Seven Lives Together-The Mughal Warrior

By Shrimant

By 1595, Mughal ruler Akbar was the Emperor of India in the golden period of its history. Suraj, the Rajput warrior of Mughal Army is the son of Purujit; one of Akbar’s trusted generals. He along with his sister Aditi goes to spend the holidays in the farm house of Ashfaq Khan, Puru’s deputy on the outskirts of Ghana jungle near Agra. Ashfaq’s sons Ayaaz and Kareem and daughter Saira team up with them for various warrior games between the boys and the girls including sword fighting and hunting game.
All these happens when both fathers; Puru and Ashfaq are busy in fighting against the rebel son of Akbar; crown prince Saleem. Saleem falls in love with an exceptionally beautiful dance girl Anarkali (Pomegranate Blossom) against the wishes of Akbar. Saleem revolts against Akbar. Rebel is suppressed and Anarkali is buried alive as per Akbar’s decision.
Puru is killed on the unconfirmed allegation that his secret plan helps Anarkali escape live burial. Suraj sails to Portuguese controlled city Hooghly through River Yamuna and Ganga to escape from Mughal wrath. He sets up a goal to find out the truth about Anarkali, the only truth to prove his father’s innocence. To achieve this he travels to Goa and makes relations with Portuguese.
Did Anarkali change her name to Mehr to hide her identity? If Mehr is not Anarkali then why did Prince Saleem kill her husband and married her? Can the mysterious monk help him to achieve his goals or divert his goals completely?
Suraj’s journey through his first life with her love is full of adventure, romance and suspense.
The novel takes through the early phases of Portuguese colonialism in India besides showing a realistic picture of Mughal period of two famous Mughal rulers; Akbar and Jahangir. Anarkali is a real and famous dance girl of this period and still draws considerable interest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shrimant
• Release date: Mar 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311450623

Book preview

Seven Lives Together Series

Book One: The Mughal Warrior

by Shrimant

SMASHWORDS EDITION

©2014 by Shrimant

Published 2014 by:

Shrimant on Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission, except for brief quotations to books and critical reviews. This story is a work of fiction. Characters and events are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedicated to my parents, who

encouraged me to become a writer

Author’s Note: This is a work of historical fiction of 16th and 17th Century Mughal Era in India. Except the following characters all other names, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Following historic characters

are real but used fictitiously:

Emperor Akbar (reined between 1556 to 1605), Crown Prince Saleem who subsequently became Emperor Jahangir in 1605, Anarkali (Dance Girl and Saleem’s lover), Mehr-un-Nisaa who subsequently became Nur Jehan after marrying Jahangir, Ali Quli (became Sher Afghan Khan)- first husband of Mehr-un-Nisaa, Rana Pratap, Man Singh, Vasco da Gama (the Portuguese sailor who discovered sea route to India in 1498), Qutbuddin- Jahangir’s foster brother and Governor of Bengal, Ghiasa- Qutbuddin’s sister’s son, Mirza Ghiyas Beg and Asmat Begum (Mehr’s father and mother), Todarmal (Akbar’s Finance Minister) etc. are real historic characters.

Seven Lives Together

Book One: The Mughal Warrior

Preface

Girls’ Night Out

Year 2012, December 23. It was girls night out, or you may read, ladies night out. Location was Darling Harbour, world famous tourist attraction located in Sydney, Australia. It was a pretty relaxed evening though it was summer time in the southern hemisphere. It was seven thirty pm, and there was still more than thirty minutes left for the sunset. The colourful rays of the sun were shining in the water of the harbour. This was the sign of short onset of dusk. Sometimes semi dark clouds were partially covering the sun ray. Hundreds of people were sitting and enjoying the lovely weather and the panoramic scene. Almost everyone was in extremely festive mood because of the upcoming Christmas holidays. Crowds were much more than the usual weekend crowd. All the pubs, restaurants were almost full. Actually it will be wrong to say they were ‘full’. They were practically overflowing.

‘Soft Petal’ is a higher income bracket bar and restaurant which oversees the Pyrmont Bridge. There are three floors. The ground floor and first floor are usually crowded with hordes of people vying for a place. The bartender boys and girls are extremely busy in serving drinks and preparing cocktails. The second floor consists of several caves of varied seating capacities. Actually they are cabins with cave like design on the walls on three sides and a glass on one side so that the occupants can watch the Darling Harbour from the privacy of the caves. Caves, which show the top view, command the highest price. You need to book them in advance so that you can get your desired cave.

One of the caves has been occupied by our ladies, who have left their husbands and boyfriends at home or with their friends to celebrate ladies night out.

Sitting in the middle with a cocktail in her hand is Sophie. She is around thirty, tall, slim, beautiful and wearing a short skirt and a matching sleeveless top. She is sitting in a relaxed position with her long legs stretched and holding the glass of vodka cocktail in her left hand. Her skins look slightly tanned. Her blonde long hairs look unusually charming. Her father is Aussie and mother is German. She sometimes describes her family as my father’s ancestors were criminals and mother’s family were mass murderers. Her looks had encouraged her to become a world class model.

Since she became eighteen, she has tried to become a successful model. It took unusually long for her to realise that this is undoubtedly a highly competitive field, where beautiful looks alone is not the criteria. Lots of other criteria like your personality, style of walking, backing and a little bit of luck all helps to the coveted world class model. At the age of twenty five, she started her luck with acting. Though she is yet to get an offer in Hollywood, she is working in few Australian TV serials and does modelling whenever she gets a chance.

Sophie sometimes has shown boyish quality, though it is not that prominent. Those who don’t know her intensely closely are not aware of this almost invisible nature. But those girls, who have lived with her together in hotels during outdoor shooting, know this. Some even predicted that she will be a lesbian. Contrary to all these, she behaves perfect feminine while doing modelling or acting.

This kind of hybrid personality tempted her close friends to predict whether she will have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. She gave a death blow to all the rumours of lesbianism when she decided to marry David within weeks of meeting him. She met David on the sets of a serial. He is a tall and handsome guy, also known within his friend circle as having mixed personality. Some even know him as an occasional cross dresser. He has more female friends than male, he had never seen to have been attracted sexually neither to men nor women. After meeting, they behaved as if they know each other since ages. Friends were surprised when Sophie announced her wedding within weeks of knowing him.

Nisha, the second in the group, is an Indian born migrant settled in Australia. She is in her early thirties, average height and beautiful.

Carrol, the third in the group, is British born and also a first generation migrant. She is in her late thirties.

Alisa was Russian born. She came to Australia as a student. She has just finished her studies and started her career.

Susan is a Hong Kong born Chinese, settled in Australia. She is around 50 and a recent divorcee.

The gossip goes like this:

‘We should have gone somewhere for few days during Christmas holidays. It is so frustrating to be almost alone during such long holidays. My office is closed for ten days.’ Susan said.

‘My boyfriend was insisting to spend today’s evening with him instead of coming to this women’s night out. We are going to Gold Coast day after tomorrow for a week,’ Carrol said.

Alisa suggested to Susan, ‘You can also spend your vacation somewhere with your family.’

‘My son is grown up and has already planned his vacation with his friends.’ Susan explained.

‘I believe you have a daughter also?’ Alisa asked.

‘She will spend her holidays with her father, my ex husband and his girl friend. I hope to get another man as soon as possible, the boredom is killing me,’ Susan was still in a good mood.

Carrol started, ‘You should get one soon. This is my guess.’

Alisa said, ‘You should have told me earlier that you are living alone. I was searching for an accommodation as I had to vacate my unit. It is so hard to find an alternative accommodation! Dozens of people are applying for one vacant apartment. It is like a lottery, no one is sure that she will be lucky enough to get that on rent, even if you are ready to pay more.’

‘What did you do then?’ Nisha asked.

‘I just moved in with my boyfriend. He has already bought a property for himself,’ Alisa replied.

‘Good then, marry him and your accommodation problem are over for life!’ Nisha joked.

‘He is just my first boyfriend. I have known him only for few months. You need to know someone long enough to decide about marriage.’ Alisa replied.

’Maybe you do not realise now, but you may be made for each other,’ teased Sophie. She was holding the glass of cocktail in her hand. She was staring at the glass instead of any of the group.

‘My boyfriend and I decided to marry within two months of knowing each other.’ Nisha said.

‘Are you both made for each other?’ Alisa asked.

Nisha smiled, ‘I do not know. It is too early to say that. You know, in my culture people believe once you are married to someone, you will marry the same person for seven births!’

‘Really, I am even planning to marry seven times in one life! I should be marrying at least forty-nine people in seven lives.’ Alisa poured the next peg out of the bottle.

‘One day I told this to Deepak, my husband. He laughed and said; maybe this is our seventh life together. From next one onwards, I may get another woman as my spouse.’ Nisha said.

‘Is he right?’ Carrol asked.

‘No, he was just joking. Who knows about past life and after life? They are just in scriptures.’ Nisha completed.

‘Nisha, this may be your seventh life together, or any number between one and seven. You don’t know because you do not remember your past life. It is true that many people marry the same person for at least seven lives.’ Sophie said calmly. She was holding the cocktail glass in front of her eyes and was looking different.

‘We are drinking for less than even 30 minutes, and you are already drunk?’ Susan asked.

‘This is her first glass, and she has drunk few sips only.’ Carrol confirmed.

‘Are you alright Sophie?’ Susan inquired.

Sophie didn’t react. Today she was looking different.

‘This is mine and David’s seventh life together. We have already spent six lives together over several centuries.’ She said calmly. She was not making eye contact with anyone. She was holding the wine glass and staring at it.

Almost everyone other than Carrol laughed together. Carrol tried to analyse the body language of Sophie. She was convinced that Sophie was not joking. She took control of the situation. Sophie was practically in a different world. She was not reacting to the laughs of her friends. She was calm like never before. Everyone calmed down and realised the seriousness of her words.

Sophie continued.

‘It was 1595.’

‘Sixteenth century!’ Everybody said at the same time.

‘Yes. I was in Agra.’ Sophie continued.

‘Where is Agra? Is it some imaginary place?’ Susan asked.

‘I know,’ Carrol said, ‘I have seen the beautiful Taj Mahal in Agra.’

‘Carrol is right,’ Nisha confirmed.

‘There was no Taj Mahal in Agra,’ Sophie continued, ‘I was not alive when it was built. My name was Suraj Singh, son of a Rajput lieutenant of Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire.’

‘What? Suraj is a male name!’ Nisha tried to correct her.

‘Didn’t I say that I was the son of a Rajput lieutenant? Soul is neither male nor female. Yes, I was a man.’ Sophie continued. ‘My father Purujit Singh was a distant cousin of Rana Pratap of Mewar.’

Nisha snatched her words, ‘Yes I know Rana Pratap was fighting his entire life with Emperor Akbar to liberate his capital Chittor. How come your father was on Akbar’s side?’

‘You are right Nisha. Rana Pratap was enemy number one of Akbar. But my father was convinced that Akbar was destined to rule India. He was also convinced that Akbar’s time will be the golden era of Indian history. So he decided to side with him instead of his relative, the legendary Rana Pratap.

Chapter 1

Puru, the Unsung Hero of Agra

Purujit Singh had a small palace on the outskirts of Agra named Chandra (moon) Mahal. It was like a small fort with nearly twenty feet high solid wall around the palace. The palace was on an area of nearly two hundred acres. A couple of large steel gates were protecting the entrance of the palace. The gates were so heavy that at least two guards were required to put their might to either open or close them. There were about fifty large rooms in the palace. In fact, I never remember of counting the rooms. The palace had three floors with just two rooms on the top floor, one being occupied by me. A part of the palace was being used as Arms Reserve. There was also a long tunnel in the palace to be used as an emergency exit in case of any attack, but that was hardly used as there was no ruler in India at that time to attack the heart of Mughal Empire. In short, he was living the luxurious life of a king creating envy to other Mughal lieutenants and even powerful ministers. He was extremely close to the Emperor after his success in several wars where he had either fought alone or alongside other generals.

One side of the palace was Yamuna River. The other side was inhabited by thousands of Rajput and Muslim soldiers, most of whom were serving the platoon of Purujit Singh. There were different types of military units. One was Sowar which was actually horse cavalry. The second type of unit was Zamburak. It was a specialised form of camel cavalry. In this unit, the soldier was sitting on a camel with a mounted swivel gun. The camel was being made to sit on its knees so that the cannon can be fired. The mobility of the camels, flexibility and heavy fire power of the cannons, made this unit a dreaded one among the enemies. War elephants were being used by generals and senior officers. Mughal troops had several thousand war elephants, out of which Purujit commanded over few hundred at least. Each war elephant was being assisted by few horse archers. Purujit was being surrounded by at least a dozen horse archers. Initially Suraj was accompanying his father Purujit in the war field on another elephant. After successfully showing his valour in one war, he was promoted to head the secondary unit. His unit was first attacking the enemy. At the same time, Purujit’s unit was waiting to launch the second and decisive attack. Suraj had never gotten the opportunity to lead an independent army though he was capable of being a successful leader.

There was a small river navy called Dhows which transported soldiers and weapons in rivers especially Yamuna.

Soldiers and commanders were either engaged in wars or practising war for the most part of the year.

A small cantonment based economy had grown around Purujit’s palace. Among them were weapons manufacturing units making bows, arrows, cannons, gun powders and many other military supplies. There were traders who were bringing the finest quality horses, camels and elephants for the cantonment. Even the farmers and artisans, who were practically not interested in any of the wars, were benefitting in getting a ready market for their farm products.

‘You mean there were manufacturing factories in the sixteenth century?’ Susan was surprised.

‘I think she is right. I know a little bit about the history. That period was actually the golden age of India economically.’ Nisha said.

Sophie did not comment but continued the story.

There was a Kala Bhavan (Art Wing) inside Purujit’s palace, which was being used primarily for entertainment. The hall could accommodate hundred plus people. It was decorated with five chandeliers, where oil and wicks were used to create the best of ambience. The high walls were designed for placement of massive oil lamps at regular intervals. The floor was covered with expensive and beautiful Persian carpet purchased from Arab merchants. Purujit’s favourite was Persian carpets. He possessed a significant number of large sized carpets made to order, so that if you see a carpet on one occasion, you will not find the same carpet on the next. There were some exclusive costly carpets reserved to be used when senior officials from the Emperor were visiting the palace.

There was a stage on one end of the hall, which served the dual purpose. Whenever meetings were held, Purujit along with senior officials were sitting on the stage when junior people were being seated in the hall, which was like a gallery.

Most of the time, the hall was being used as a venue for entertainment. Beautiful dancers and singers from Lucknow and Delhi were coming to perform. Purujit was particularly fond of songs and dances. He was spending vast fortunes for inviting singers and dancers. The audience consisted of his immediate family, relatives and families of his senior and trusted officers. Amongst them was the family of Ashfaq Khan, his sons Ayaaz and Kareem, his wife Naureen. Ashfaq was the immediate deputy of Purujit and also most trusted one. Sometimes Ashfaq’s close friends were advising him to use religion card to overthrow Purujit. He knew well Emperor Akbar was so neutral in such matters that he would never replace a loyal person like Purujit. So it was in the interest of both, he continued as the trusted aide of Purujit.

Another attraction of the cultural program was delicious foods. Purujit was hiring expert cooks from Lucknow with experience of cooking for Nawabs of Lucknow. Liquor was hardly served as most of the audience were women. Traditionally in those days women were always keeping a safe distance from alcohol.

Still there were occasions when alcohol (called sharab locally) was flowing freely. The audience was exclusively male, and female dancers were doing erotic dance on the stage.

At this point, Nisha intervened, ‘Yes, it was called Mujra, is that correct?’

‘Yes, Mujra was being performed, and I was terribly much fond of the same.

Purujit, at the bottom of his heart, probably wanted to become a king. Yet, he was realistic enough to understand his position and what he wanted. The Moghul army under Emperor Akbar was so vast and powerful that even powerful Rajput king like Rana of Chittor was struggling to protect his kingdom. He had to flee to the jungle and stay there for years while fighting a guerrilla war against Mughals. There was a time when Rana Pratap was living in hutment in hilly wilderness of the Aravalli Mountains with his wife and children and sleeping on the straw mat on the floor. He had spent months eating bread made of grass seeds. Once his teenage son was eating the bread made from grass seeds prepared by the queen, a stray dog snatched his breads from him. He cried as there was nothing else to eat.

Purujit was well aware of the sacrifice required to enjoy the status of a sovereign king. Being an excellent warrior doesn’t mean one is an outstanding leader also. He just wanted only one side of being a king, leading a luxurious life. The emperor extremely well knew his weakness. The Emperor Akbar was also keen to keep many Rajput warriors in his side so that he could establish his rule on the most part of medieval India. He was generous to give him the small township he was living along with nearly fifty adjacent villages. He was entitled to collect tax and keep everything with him for maintaining his palace and lifestyle. This was the main reason he was the envy of many of his Muslim and Hindu contemporaries.

There was a long tunnel from the middle of the palace which was leading to river Yamuna. Though Yamuna was situated on one side of the palace, the tunnel did not open outside the palace. It went few hundred meters to a large house near Yamuna, where there was an extension of the river to the large compound of the house. There was a private jetty in the compound with a large houseboat called ‘Nagin of Yamuna’ parked there. The hundred meters wide canal like extension was almost half kilometre long from the river to the compound encircling the compound. Entire length was hidden by nearly twenty feet high large stone walls from the river to the house. Again the whole boundary walls both surrounding the house as well as the extension of the river was literally covered with hedge like tall trees. Outside the hedge, there was almost half kilometre artificial dense jungle to all sides of the house where at least a dozen of fierce looking well fed dogs were roaming freely so that no one dares to explore the area.

The tunnel was divided by five heavy steel shutters like gates with locking facilities. One was in the palace at the start of the tunnel, and the other was at the end. Besides, there were three gates at various intervals so that they could be locked to prevent the attackers follow the escapees, and the victim could easily escape to the river in the house boat which was always stocked with provisions enough for at least a month.

The house was a small luxurious palace which was actually a miniature version of Chandra Mahal. Besides few trusted servants, there were always few armed guards stationed in the house. They always came to and went from the house by relatively small but covered boats as there was no land access to the house. The joint of the canal and Yamuna was secured by a submerged sluice gate, opened when the house boat or the boats use by the armed guards or the servants came to the house. The canal was inhabited by a small family of crocodiles, regularly fed by Purujit’s servants and ready to eat anyone who tries to cross the water for unauthorised access to the house.

There was an underground large store room containing weapons including swivel guns and even cannons. Nagin of Yamuna, the large house boat, was also well equipped with cannons on all sides. There were two layers of rooms, the bottom one was mostly for women. There were rooms with luxurious fittings for the family members of Purujit. There were also large rooms with berths for the sailors, soldiers and servants. There was a fully equipped kitchen capable to cook for few hundred people.

Whatever way it might have been equipped, this fort like arrangement was never enough to stand against a well equipped army of even of a medium size kingdom of those days. The vast Mughal army was able to eliminate this in few minutes. Purujit knew this. After all, he was an essential part of the Mughal army. He never dreamt to carve a kingdom out of the Mughal Empire and rule over that as a sovereign king.

Purujit was aware of a bitter truth about the Muslim rulers. When a king or emperor died, there was no established tradition that the eldest son would get access to the throne, and the younger princes would become loyal to him. Sometimes there were bitter fights among the princes who aspired to be the next ruler. A person in position like Purujit has to take sides willingly or unwillingly. A stable rule of the Emperor Akbar was no guarantee that instability would not come after his death. The hidden fortress was the result of his tremendous foresight to plan for his family in an unforeseen future.

Even though he was serving a Muslim ruler, personally he was a devoted Hindu. He owned a house at Haridwar, the holy city in Northern India near river Ganges (called Ganga locally). He often visited Haridwar at least two to three times in a year with his family.

Suraj was a young man in his early twenties. He was educated enough as per the standard of that time to take on the reign from his father when time comes. He was also terribly fond of horse riding, swimming, and sword fighting and shooting. Though bow and arrow was one of weapons of those days, he was interested and was trained as a sharp shooter. He was proficient in using the camel mounted swivel guns; modern days’ pistols. Revolvers were not invented in those times.

It was extremely rare in those days for girls or young women to receive weapons training such as horse riding and sword fighting. Some Rajput women learnt them as an extracurricular activity. The motive was mostly for pleasure though some were learning the skill to use as self-protection in case of unwanted events. No woman was expected to engage in a war. Emperor Akbar’s Rajput Hindu wife Jodha Bai was also an expert in sword fighting. She even tried to keep that training for some time after her marriage but without success. Aditi, younger sister of Suraj was one such Rajput girl. She was barely eighteen at that time. She was learning horse riding and sword fighting from her brother Suraj in the privacy of their palace. She was also adept in swimming which she was doing in river Yamuna.

Suraj’s swimming practice was a bit unusual. He would go to the middle of the Yamuna River during the rainy season in a boat when the river overflowed with flood water and jump from the boat to the water with the sword still hanging from his waist. Then he would swim across to another boat few hundred meters away. Gradually he increased the distance between the boats up to few kilometres. He was easily swimming from one side of the river to the other side when river almost overflowed during monsoon. Purujit, Suraj’s father was also a fantastic swimmer, but not like his son.

A regular partner in Suraj’s game was Ayaaz, son of Ashfaq Khan. Ashfaq Khan was the closest subordinate of Purujit. His family was living in Bharatpur (also known as Lohagarh) of Rajasthan which was around 55 kilometres from Agra. Ashfaq also owned a house in Agra. He was residing there to perform his duty and to attend the cultural programs at Purujit’s Kala Bhavan.

Ayaaz liked the hospitality of Purujit’s family. He was actually a frequent visitor to Purujit’s palace. Aditi was extremely close with Ayaaz and treated him as her own brother. Kareem, the other son of Ashfaq also came sometimes with his older brother Ayaaz. Kareem was remarkably different from Ayaaz. An introvert by nature and he sometimes behaved like a philosopher.

It was the time when Purujit and Ashfaq both led an army to fight Akbar’s own revolutionary son Saleem in Lahore. Saleem commanded over a relatively small army which also consisted of some Mughal commanders and soldiers loyal to him. Purujit didn’t consider it worthwhile to involve too many top fighters in the war. He knew extremely well the soldiers led by Saleem and his modus Operandi as Saleem himself was trained by Purujit. Besides, it was also an emotional war between a father and a son. Purujit Singh was the best to manage both the wars at the same time. He was entrusted not only to win over Saleem’s small army but also to win over the prince himself and to bring him back to his father’s folds.

Suraj and Aditi were invited by Ayaaz to their mountain top house just on the outskirts of Ghana forest. There were few villages on the way to the hill top. Then for around half kilometre, there were only trees. The hill was not unusually high. A curvy road was leading the way to the bungalow of Ashfaq Khan, which, his family was using occasionally as a holiday home. A horse would take about an hour to take you from the foot of the hill to his bungalow. The house was not exactly on the hill top. The road was finished on reaching the bungalow. After that there were steps leading to a small temple, which was almost half an hour’s walk. Few priests and monks were living near the temple in large natural caves. Artificial stone partitions were dividing the long caves to convert them into several rooms. One side was occupied by two priests who were living with their families. There was a small front yard where they

Reviews for Seven Lives Together-The Mughal Warrior

[alan40842 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A well written fiction. There are many interesting twists and turns.